Geoffrey Bull

Bull was born in Eltham, SE London, into a family, William and Ethel, with conservative evangelical beliefs. At 15 years old, he was baptised and received into the fellowship of a group of Christians meeting in "New Testament simplicity".{{Cite web|url=https://gfamissions.org/pages/learn-and-promote/detail/3/24/|title=GEOFFREY T. BULL|last=Dreisbach|first=Dr. John A.|date=June 1999|website=GFA Missions}} This group was of the Open Brethren persuasion. His original ambition for a career was to enter banking, but by 1941 he became absorbed with missionary work in Central Asia.

After World War II, the elders in his Brethren assembly agreed to commend him to work full-time in Central Asia. In March 1947, Bull and George N. Patterson (1920-2012) went to China, travelling deep into the interior up to the border area shared with Tibet. Here, for three years, they studied Mandarin and Tibetan. Bull entered Tibet on 29 July 1950, where he witnessed the last days of Tibetan independence and was soon imprisoned by the invading Red Army on the pretext of being a spy.{{Cite news

|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12360495.geoffrey-bull/

|title=Geoffrey Bull

|date = 26 April 1999

|newspaper=The Herald}} At first, he was kept in solitary confinement, but later underwent a re-education and thought reform programme—his captors tried brainwashing, but he claimed that his "faith in Christ kept him from mental breakdown".{{Cite web|url=https://www.crossroad.to/heaven/Excerpts/books/faith_under_fire/holds-key.htm|title=God Holds the Key|last=Bull|first=Geoffrey T.|website=crossroad.to}} This captivity lasted for three years and two months before he was released to the British authorities in Hong Kong on 19 December 1953.

On his return, he married Agnes(Nan) Templeton of Milngavie, Scotland, in June 1955. The Bulls spent a year in Australia,Coral in the Sand, page 16 and subsequently served for fourteen months in North Borneo, now Sabah, from June 1959 to August 1960.Dust jacket, Coral in the Sand Bull also had a worldwide Bible teaching ministry in Brethren assemblies and beyond. He died following the Breaking of Bread service in his local church, Brisbane Evangelical Church at Largs, Scotland, and was buried there. He was survived by his widow, Nan, who died in May 2009 and was buried with him. His three sons, Ross, Peter and Alister, survived him. Peter died in 2000.

Bull wrote a number of books. The first three form an autobiographical trilogy on his prison experiences in China.

• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey Taylor |last=Bull |year=1955 |title=When Iron Gates Yield |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |oclc=252091057}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |year=1959 |title=God Holds the Key |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |oclc=2899216}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |year=1965 |title=The Sky is Red |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |oclc=9059607}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |year=1969 |title=A new Pilgrim's progress: John Bunyan's classic imagined in a contemporary setting |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |isbn=978-0-340-10651-8 |oclc=59141367}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |year=1962 |title=Coral in The Sand |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London |oclc=2112367}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |year=1972 |title=Love-song in harvest: an interpretation of the Book of Ruth |publisher=Pickering and Inglis |location=London |isbn=978-0-7208-0219-1 |oclc=641311}}
• "The Anguish in the Grass"
• "The City & The Sign" (on the Prophet Jonah)
• "'Tibetan Tales" issued in the US as "Forbidden Land, A Saga of Tibet"
• "Treasure in My Sack"
• "The Rock and the Sand" this was his last work and was published by Chapter Two, London.

Bull also wrote three series of illustrated board books for children, the text being in rhyming verse and retells various Bible stories:

'I am' series

'I hid' series

'I wish I lived' series

• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |author2=Christopher Higham |year=1977 |title=I wish I lived when Daniel did |publisher=Pickering and Inglis |location=London |isbn=978-0-7208-2249-6 |oclc=16360438}}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |author2=Christopher Higham |title=I Wish I Lived When Esther Did |publisher=Pickering and Inglis |location=London |year=1977 }}
• {{cite book |first=Geoffrey T. |last=Bull |author2=Christopher Higham |title=I Wish I Lived When Gideon Did |publisher=Pickering and Inglis |location=London |year=1977 }}{{ISBN|0-87508-889-9}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |first=Alex |last=McKay |year=2003 |title=The history of Tibet |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-30844-1 |oclc=50494840 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3BPsOQe654IC&pg=PA498 498]}}

• {{cite web|first=John A. |last=Dreisbach |date=3 June 1999 |title=Bull, Geoffrey T. (1921–?) |url=http://www.gfamissions.org/missionary-biographies/bull-geoffrey-t.-1921.html |publisher=Gospel Fellowship Association Missions |accessdate=13 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820220623/http://www.gfamissions.org/missionary-biographies/bull-geoffrey-t.-1921.html |archivedate=20 August 2008 }}

• [http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12360495.Geoffrey__Bull/ Bull's obituary in The Herald]
• [https://www.academia.edu/15784999/_Mission_and_Politics_George_Patterson_and_Geoffrey_Bull_in_Tibet_Tibet_Brethren_Historical_Review_9_2013_21-43 David Woodbridge 2013, "‘Mission and Politics: George Patterson and Geoffrey Bull in Tibet", Brethren Historical Review 9 (2013): 21-43]

{{Christianity in Tibet}}

{{Protestant missions to China}}

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Category:Scottish Protestant missionaries

Category:Scottish Plymouth Brethren

Category:Protestant missionaries in China

Category:1921 births

Category:1999 deaths

Category:Scottish travel writers

Category:Scottish religious writers

Category:Scottish children's writers

Category:Protestant missionaries in Malaysia

Category:Protestant missionaries in Tibet

Category:British expatriates in Tibet

Category:English expatriates in China